It's guerilla war, new commander admits

By Ed O'Loughlin, Herald Correspondent in BaghdadJuly 18 2003

The new head of US Central Command, John Abizaid. Photo: Reuters

As coalition aircraft came under fire from ground-to-air missiles in Baghdad for the second time in a week, the new commander of United States forces in the Gulf has said his troops face a "classical guerilla war".

In his first Pentagon press briefing since taking over from the retired general Tommy Franks, the new head of US Central Command, John Abizaid, said the attacks were becoming more organised and sophisticated.

General Abizaid's comments contradict earlier assertions by General Franks and the US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, who have repeatedly claimed the attacks are not organised enough to be described as "guerilla warfare".

The new commander's briefing on Wednesday came on the same day a rocket-propelled grenade claimed the life of the 33rd US soldier to die from hostile action since President George Bush declared the war over on May 1. The soldier's death brings the total US combat death toll to 147, equal to that of the last Gulf War.

On the same day, two ground-to-air missiles were fired at a coalition C-130 military transport plane at Baghdad airport. A military spokesman told Reuters this was the second attack of its kind at the airport.");document.write("

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Tensions were high in Baghdad as US troops braced themselves for a feared stepping up of attacks to mark yesterday's anniversary of the 1968 coup that brought Saddam Hussein's faction to power in Iraq.

General Abizaid contradicted Mr Rumsfeld's claims that the continuing conflict was not a war because it was not being co-ordinated at a regional level. The general told reporters in Washington that there was regional organisation, based on former Baath party officials, and that there was a chance that these groups would link up nationally.

"It's low-intensity conflict in our doctrinal terms, but it's war however you describe it," he said. "The level of resistance, I'm not so sure that I would characterise it as escalating in terms of number of incidents. But it is getting more organised, and it is learning."

In view of this, he said, he did not envisage reducing coalition ground forces in Iraq below the present level of 148,000 US personnel and 13,000 other nationalities, mainly British.

He had strong words for the growing number of US soldiers in Iraq who are openly criticising the Bush Administration in the media for failing to bring them home when the invasion was complete.

"None of us that wear this uniform are free to say anything disparaging about the secretary of defence or the president of the United States. We're not free to do that. It's our professional code," General Abizaid said, warning that those speaking out might be disciplined.

He said the army might have to make Iraq a year-long deployment and was making plans to introduce a rotational system - as occurred during the Vietnam War.

The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that the Pentagon could start a call-up of up to 10,000 US National Guard soldiers by this northern winter to bolster its forces in Iraq.